Flushing-tank for water-closets



(No Model.)

J. P. LOGKE.

, FLUSHING TANK FOR WATBRULOSETS. No. 565,997. Patented Au'g.;18, 1896.

WITNESSES To all whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, JAM S P.LOCKE, a citi UNITED. STATES PATENT QFFICE.

JAMES P. LOOKE, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

FLUSHlNG-TANK FOR WATER-CLOSETS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,997, dated August18, 1896.

Application filed October 7, 1895.

zen of the United States, residing at Toledo, Lucas county, Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements. in Flushing- Tanks forWater-Closets, of which the following is a specification.

In most of the flushing-tanks now in use a noise is produced in theoperation of flushing, owingto the slow closing of the valvecontrollingthe water-inl'etto the tank, the aperture gradually becoming so smallthat a longcontinued loud hissing sound is produced, especially when thewater supply is under high pressure.

My invention relates to and its object is to provide means forovercoming this objection, and, more particularly, to provide largevalve area for the inlet to the tank and mechanism whereby theinlet-valves may be easily and readily operated, and by which they willbe closed positively, quickly, and noiselessly when the water reaches agiven height within the tank after each flushing operation.

The further object of my invention is to accomplish the above result .bymeans of mechanism which shall be cheap, durable, and positive in itsoperation, and which dispenses with the use of the supplemental floatsheretofore employed to accomplish this object.

' In the accompanying drawings, made part hereof, Figure 1 represents acentral vertical longitudinal sectional elevation of my device; Fig. 2,an enlarged front view of the detents and their tripping mechanism,hereinafter referred to and Fig. 3, a side view of the same.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the severalviews.

In the drawings, a is the tank, I) the inletpipe, and c the outlet-pipe.The'inlet and the siphon 0, leading to the outlet-pipe, are controlledby the usual lever d and pull-chain 6. Above and partly within the tankis a chamberf, in which terminates the inlet-pipe b. In the lower partof this chamber are seated two valves 9 and it, having their downwardlyprojecting stems connected with valve-lever i, which, in turn isconnected by chain with the lever d. The lower part of the stems of thevalves 9 h are forked, as at g h, the forks being astride of the lever 6Serial No. 564,829. (No model.)

and the contact part of the fork g being normally nearer to the lever t'than is the corre sponding part of the fork h, so that when the lever israised by a pull on the chain 6, through lever d and chain is, thevalve-stem of valve 9 is first engaged, 'so that this valve is firstopened, and the valve-stem h is next on gaged, and the valve It opened,the arrangement being such that the valve 9 is always opened first andclosed last. The valve 9 is of smaller area than the valve h, thesmaller valve being designed to break the pressure in chamber f, so thatthe larger valve It may be readily lifted without requiring too muchforce and Without too much strain'upon the levers and chains.

Secured within the tank is a plate Z, having one of its fiat sides(hereinafter termed the front side) parallel with and near to the levert', the opposite side of this plate (hereinafter termed the rear side)being parallel with and near to the lever m, which carries at its freeextremity float it. The plate Z is slotted through from front to rearside, as at Z. plate near its upper end and swinging in slot Z is adetent 0, having near its lower end a horizontal portion or shoulder 0,from which curves downwardly a finger 0 The lever t' normally rests justbelow the curved finger 0 and when this lever is pulled upwardly itpresses and rubs against the curved finger, forcing the detent 0 intothe slot Z until the lever passes to a point above the shoulder 0, whenthe detent falls into its original position with the shoulder underneaththe lever, where the lever is supported and retained until the detent isreleased by the mechanism now to be explained.

Upon the front side of the plate Z are guides 19, in which slidesvertically bar q, having at its lower end eye q, through which passesfloat-lever m, and having pivoted at and suspended from its upper end,as at g detent r.

Pivoted to the rear side .of the Pivoted to andsuspended from the plateZ,

by means of eyes 3, is a tripping-piece 15, formed, preferably, of heavystout wire, as are the detents 0 and 1". r This tripping-piece is formedat its upper end with two loops t, which engage the eyes 3 on the plate.

loops t are united by horizontal portion 25 and the two verticalportions i which latter The;.

portions are united near their lower ends by horizontal 'cross-pieces'tand t The upper cross-piece or horizontal part t projects outwardly fromthe front of the plate, as shown in Fig. 3, and is engaged on its lowerside by a shoulder-piece r, secured to the lower end of detent r and atabout ari'ght angle thereto. The cross-piece or horizontal portion tpasses between plate Z and the detent 0, which is bent, as at 0 as shownin Fig. 3, to receive the cross-piece t, which serves as a stop againstthe outward swing of the detent 0, and actuates this detent, ashereinafter described. The lower cross pi'ece or horizontal portion 25is designed to come in contact with the detent r at its extreme lowerend. To effect this contact, the shoulder-piece r is provided with anangular downward extension r having a spring 1*, secured thereto ontheside next t'o'the cross-piece tithe position of the spring 7- beingregulated by means ofset-scre'wvfl passing through the lower end ofangular extension-piece r and abutting against the spring.

Assumingthat the tank is filled withwater t'o theline 50, Fig. 1, andthat thepartsabove described are assembled asshown in the drawings,theoperation of myd'evice isas follows:

The: pull-chain 6 being drawn downwardly,

siphon 'cis-opened in the usual way and the water is rapidly discharged'from the tank through the siphon. By'the same motion of the-pull-chaineand its lever 01, chain 70, with its attached lever,=is liftedupwardly. This movement of theleve'r 4 first lifts the valve '9, which,being of small area, rises with-but little resistance, and the largervalve h is next engaged and lifted. V This valve, the pressure in thechamber f being broken, also lifts with but little resistance.nowgp'oursthrough valves 9 and h into the tank, 'but not so rapidly,however, as the tank is emptied through the siphon. When the lever 'i israised by the action of the chains e lc- 'and lever d, it comes incontact with the downwardly and inwardly curved fingenpiece o ofdetent 0and pushes this detent inwardly, in its slotted aperture, until thelever reaches apoint above the horizon tal shoulder 0 of thed'etent,when the shoulder falls into place under the lever, holding it,with its attach-ed valves 9 and h, stationary in its elevated positionfor the time being. As the water-line ac is lowered by the discharge ofthe water through the siphon, the float n, with its lever m, descends,drawing downwith it the sliding bar q, to which is pivotally securedthedetent 'r. The spring r attached to the inclined extension-piece r,'normally rests against the upper side of cross piece of thetripping-piece t. As the detent r descends with the float n, theinclined spring r sliding upon the cross-piece i forces the lower end ofthe detent outwar'dly until the shoulder 7" reaches a point below thecross-piece t when the shoulder falls by its gravity beneath thecross-piece F,

The water as shown in Fig. 3. It will be seen that the valve-lever "L isnow supported by detent o 0 in elevated position, and that thefloat-lever m, with its connected detent a", engages the projecting arm25 t of the tripping mechanism. The water having been discharged fromthe tank down to line y, Fig. 1, through the siphon in the usual way,the tank begins to refill through the valves 9 and h, the floatgradually rising until it reaches the Waterline :0, Fig. 1, lifting withit, through its lever, the vertical bar q, with its detent'r. As theshoulder r pulls upwardly on arm 11 t the cross-piece pulls outwardlyupon detent 0, behind which cross-piece 25 passes, until the shoulder 0is drawnentirely within its recess. At this point the adjustment of thespring 7 is such that the lower cross-piece 75 comes in contact with thespring, throwing the shoulder 0" out of engagement withthe cross-piece tat the same instant thatt'he valve-lever t' is released from the detent0,

the shoulder 7" now being at a point above the cross-piece t The lever,being released, falls, closing the two valves h .g in quicksu'ccessionwithout shock, .j ar, hissing sound, or other objectionable noise. It isnecessary that the adjustment of the sprin gs r 'and r should be suchthat the disengagement ofthe detent r from the tripping-piece 75 shallbe simultaneous with thereleaseand fall of the valve-lever, for thereason that if the valvelever should fall first the float wouldrise nohigher and'the detent 0 would be heldininoperative position, so that atthe next operation of the flushing mechanism the valvelever't' wouldfind no support from the detent 0. If, on the other hand, detent'r-werereleased from the tripping-piece-t before the fall of thevalve-lever, the detent :0 would not be operated, the valves wouldbe'ret'ained in open position, and the flow of the water would becontinuous.

The advantage of thefarrangementiof the air-chamber f and itsvalvesyasshown and described, is that the compressed air prevents undueconcussion upon thesudden closing of the valves 9 h, while the twovalves of large and small area closing in succession serve somewhat thesame purpose, as a cock or spigot which is opened and closed graduallytending to prevent concussion. It will be seen, moreover, that thelargearea of valveopening provided by the two valves allows the escape ofwater as the chamber is emptied without the hissing sound'wh ich myinvention is designed to obviate. 7

'Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. In a flushing-tank for water-closets, a detent adapted to engage theinlet-valve lever and to hold the same against movement during the riseof thewater in the tank, a-float in said tank and connectionsintermediate said detent and said float, in combination with means forsimultaneously releasing said detent from said lever and said float fromsaid intermediate connections, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

2. In a flushing-tank for water-closets, a detent adapted to hold openthe valved inlet to the tank during the rise of the Water therein, afloat in said tank, a second detent controlled by said float, and anintermediate tripping 4. A Water-closet flushing apparatus, comprising atank, a water-supply pipe leading thereto, a flushing-pipe leadingtherefrom provided with suitable means for permitting the water toescape through said flushing pipe, an air-chamber connected with saidsupply-pipe, a plurality of outlet-valves in said chamber, means foropening and closing said valves in succession, a detent adapted toengage the inlet-valve lever and to hold the same against movementduring the rise of the Water in the tank, a float in the tank,connections intermediate said detent and said float and means forsimultaneously releasing said detent from said lever, and said floatfrom said intermediate connections, substantially as and for the purposespecified.

JAMES P. LOCKE. In presence of WILLIAM P. TYLER, L. E. BROWN.

